Development of Phage-based Antibacterials to Improve Animal Health and Food Safety

Our primary goal is to develop phage-based therapeutics to limit bacterial pathogens in livestock and food processing environments. Specifically, we aim to:Determine if phage-based therapies can prevent diarrheal infections with bacterial etiologies. Such infections are often predicted to increase with the reduction in antibiotic use in food animal production;Measure the efficacy of phage-based treatments in reducing or eliminating foodborne bacterial contamination in food processing environments; andComprehensively examine the safety of phage-based therapies in terms of impact on the host (e.g., gut microbiome, deleterious immune responses, etc.), development of phage resistance, and impact of long-term use of bacteriophages as biocontrol measures.